England captain Ben Stokes admitted that he was a bit “shell-shocked” after his side were hammered by eight wickets in the first 2025-26 Ashes Test against Australia at Perth, thanks to a stunning knock of 123 from 83 balls by Travis Head.
Chasing 205 runs for victory, Head was pushed up to open the batting in Usman Khawaja’s absence, and he blasted his way to a century, thereby paving the way for a crushing win and helping the hosts go 1-0 up in the series.The all-rounder said that Head’s innings had knocked the wind out of the visitors.
“Little bit shell-shocked there, Travis Head was phenomenal, jeez, that was some knock. The way the game eked out, the guys seem to have success with the bat in hand; they wanted to take the game on, never think we have got enough. That knock from Travis knocked the wind out of us,” Stokes said at the post-match presentation.
Stokes admitted that Head was “going like a train” in the middle despite putting forth multiple plans to try and dislodge him.
“There was a lot of assistance when the bowlers put the ball in the right area. We tried 3-4 different plans there, he was going like a train. The runs were coming through quickly; he is really hard to stop when he plays like that,” the all-rounder said.
The two-day loss means England have 12 days before the next Test match in Brisbane, which begins on December 4.
“The way we bowled yesterday was phenomenal, 19 wickets fell yesterday. We got four games to go, we have to let it sink in, we have to move on and think about the next game in Brisbane. Long time before that game starts, everybody will put the hard yards in,” said Stokes.
Story continues below this ad
This was the first time since 1921 and only the sixth instance overall when an Ashes Test ended in two days.